Top 10 Best Anime Series

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a series that strives for perfection. We need more series like this - straight to the point, tons of great characters, no fillers, has the main story in focus every single episode, no training archs to become stronger (if i remember correctly), very little fan service, a well written story.

FMA:B surpasses FMA (2003) in almost every way. Better animations, better dub, cooler fights and a way better story. The first 12 episodes of Brotherhood is kind of a recap of what happened in the first 1-28 episodes in FMA. Though they have made it possible to see FMA:B without seeing FMA first.

Overall rating: 9.5 / 10 - A masterpiece
21st anime I saw. Eng (Watched 2 times. Second time 2016/2017)

Genre: Adventure/fantasy/shounen, Dub vs Sub - Recommended: Either
Episodes: 64

Crazy how well written this is. Probably one of the most intricate stories in all of anime. It's like the writer knew every move that was going to happen from the very first episode. Extremely creative.

Overall rating: 9.5 / 10 - A masterpiece

Episodes: Episodes: 97 (4 seasons atm. season 5 coming in 2023)
18th anime I saw, Jap (Watched S1+S2 two times. Re-watched in 2018/2019)

Season 2 is too good atm... (13 eps out atm)

Season 1 was good. A bit slow, but shonens generally tends to start off a bit slow (as characters have to train up to become stronger + explaining their systems and introducing characters). The magic system is very nice, the characters are interesting and the animations are awesome; especially in the fighting scenes. A lot of the rating for this series will depend on season 2, but so far so good.

Overall rating: 9.5 / 10 - A must watch

71st anime I saw (Summer 2020). (Watched twice. Re-watched Q2 2023)

Clannad: After Story is a much watch. You'll have to get through the first season to see this, but that's a sacrifice you are willing to make.

Like in the 1st season, season 2 (After story) is divided into 4 stories, though in this season there is a main story as well which starts around episode 9. From here the story finally revolves around Tomoya (the protagonist). We will see his life After High-school when his friend group has split apart to each their destinations and Nigisa (his girlfriend) is repeating her senior year in high school.

Overall rating: 9.0 / 10 - A must watch

Episodes: 22(+3ovas)
2nd anime i saw, Eng (Watched twice)

This was the first anime I saw and I am really happy about starting my long list of animes with something this great. Death Note is probably one of the best "first anime"'s to see. It's not too long, there's little gore/blood, very little fan-service and no tsunderes... It's a great thriller, sticking to the main story in every single episode, keeping you on the edge of your seat at all times. It's all just great fun and I still have met very few people who didn't like the first 25 episodes.

Overall rating: 9.0 / 10 - A must watch
1st anime i saw, Eng (Seen 3 times - 2012, 2015 and 2016/17ish)

Episodes: 37

Note 23.05.23 - Need to rewatch - can't remember it that well

Code Geass is a great series with many similarities to Death Note (just with a mecha twist). Both animes revolves around a genius highschooler who gains a supernatural power which they decide to use to try make a utopian world with. Also doing so whilst hiding their true identities.

Overall rating: 8.5 / 10 - A must watch
3rd anime I saw (Q2 2012), Eng (Watched twice. Rewatched 2017ish)

Episodes: 50 (2 Seasons = 25+25)

The thing about the chimera ant arc is that at first i thought it was kind of decent, but then i got reeeeeally fucking bored, but suddenly out of no where i just thought "wait a second... holy shit this is insanely good" and i've loved it ever since. Uhm... Hated the ending of the arc though...

Overall rating: 8.5 / 10 - A must watch
Would've been even higher if the last season ended better and/or if the series didn't stop without a proper ending

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Shounen
Episodes: 148

50th anime i saw, Jap. (Watched twice. Re-watched 2019ish)

Love this series. The only problem is that it takes a lot of time before things really starts kicking off. The last 5 episodes are great - everything starts to make sense, and it's great fun seeing how everything ties together. Very likeable characters - Would've come even higher if it was a little bit longer. 7-8 slow epiosdes wouldn't matter that match if it was 24 episodes in total instead of 13.

Overall rating: 8.5 / 10 - A must watch
The start was kind off slow which will definitely throw some people off. This preferably should've been 24/25 episodes. A lot of stuff crammed into 13 episodes.

Episodes: 13 (+ 3 specials that are worth watching)
8th anime i saw. Eng (Watched twice. Re-watched 2020)

Note 23.05.23 - Need to rewatch - can't remember it that well

Guts, for me, is the perfect strong character. He's a male in his best years of his life (no 14 year old kid who's stronger than everyone else for some reason), he was raised in a mercenary group where he constantly had to fight to survive, you can clearly see him training in every episode. This is how you get to be the strongest. No superpowers, no supernatural strength, no guru raised him, just extremely hard work and talent. His powers doesn't feel undeserved as you see him constantly training harder than everyone else.

I also like the soundtracks and the story very much. The ending was quite annoying though as it ended very abruptly. The manga continues, so you have the option to see how it continues if you're willing to do some reading.

Overall rating: 8.5 / 10 - A must watch
Could probably be top 5 if it continued and/or improved animations

Episodes: 25
6th anime I saw, Eng

Season 2 felt more like a "part 1" of a season more than a complete season by itself. But really enjoyed it. Animations slightly downgraded, but still better than 80% of the rest of the series on my list.

Season 1: 8.5 | Season 2: 8.0
Overall rating: 8.5 / 10 - A must watch

67th anime I saw (Jan 2016). Rewatched in two days 22-23. of may 2023.

Funny AF - especially season 1.

Season 1: 9.0 | Season 2: 8.5 | Season 3: 8.5

Overall rating: 8.6 / 10 - A must watch
I always give a few bonus points to a series that is completed.

79th anime I saw (June 2023).

Note 23.05.23 - Need to rewatch - can't remember it that well

Cleverly written, intense moments, something different than most main stream anime (which most of my highest rated series are), seinen :3

Overall rating: 8.5 / 10 - A must watch
45th anime i saw (sep 2013)

Episodes: 74 | Genre: Psychological thriller, Detective fiction, Drama, Horror

Very high paced story (as 12 episode animes usually needs to be), likeable characters, nice humour, unique "magic"(or power or whatever) system.

I'll give it a somewhat lower rating cause 12 episodes is a good start, but it needs a good follow up before i can call it great.

Overall rating: 8.5 / 10 - A must watch
The build up is good (season 1) - now we need a good follow-up (season 2)

12 episodes
77th anime I saw (March 2023).

Overall rating: 8.5 / 10 - A must watch


Season 1: 7.5 | Season 2: 8.5 | Season 3: 5.5

S1 - 7.5/10
Slow start, builds characters and story up for later seasons. I like it though, cause he's learning at a realistic pace (over the course of years) which is a big bonus for me.

S2 - 8.5/10
More action, more build up. Characters more likeable now as we are getting used to them (Eris) and a lot of training in a realistic pace. A lot of character development and world building. And also absolutely gorgeous animations.

Note: I put a lot of weight in characters learning new skills in a realistic pacing. Here the character trains like crazy for 15 years in contrast to other shonens where they don't really age that much but becomes the best in the world in 2-3 years instead. This is for me more like it should be (Or even better - like Berserk where we start off the series with a guy that is 20+ years and has already been training his entire life).

Like most shonens/isekais the series starts off a bit slow as we get to know the characters, they introuduce the world and as characters grow in strength.
Besides from that there are a other great things going for the series. I really like the art style and the animations are amazing - especially in fights. The soundtrack is beautiful and fits perfectly. The characters really grows on you because of all the character development.

One of the things i love about this series is that it fixes one of the main issues i have with most shonens/isekais - While most series revolves around some teenager who never ages and gets stronger in a ridiculously short amount of time (in less than a year or two), here the time actually passes. This is a major bonus for me as it feels more realistic. No one who starts learnings something at the age of 15 can become one of the best in the world in a year or two, but here the protagonist starts learning from a very very young age, and combined with a natural talent, he gets better in a realistic amount of time. You got to earn your title to the best, and the progression must be very gradual - over several years.

All in all - i am really looking forward to season 3. If they keep it up I could easily see this ending up in top 10.

Note - definitely has to be seen in sub. Eris's voice in the dub is... horrendous.

72nd anime I saw (Summer 2020) (Watched S1 twice. Re-watched feb 2023)

Note 23.05.23 - Need to rewatch - can't remember it that well

Loved it the first time i watched it, but when i rewatched a few years later it was a lot slower than i remembered (even after episode 12). Still a good series though.

The series stars a bit slow. There's very little progress to the plot the first episodes and the real plot doesn't really start to get going before episode 12. This should really be a problem though, cause each and every episode (for me at least) before episode 12 were great anyways. We get to hear Okabin's awesome laughter (which probably would be enough to entertain me the entire show), we get to meet all the great characters and they'll introduce us to the plot.

Overall rating: 8/10 - Highly recommended

Genre: Science fiction, Mystery, Romance, Comedy
Dub vs Sub - Recommended: Sub

Episodes: 24 (+1 OVA)
15th anime I saw, Jap (Watched twice. Re-watched 2018/19ish

Re-watched S1 and S2 + saw season 3 in Q3/Q4 2022.
The series is a bit slow, but it's very enjoyable. I will rate this higher if i like the ending of season 4.

Overall rating: 8.0 / 10 - Highly recommended
I like it a lot. If season 4 ends well it could end up even higher on the list.

62nd anime I saw, Jap (Watched S1+S2 twice. Re-watched Q3/Q4 2022)

84th anime I saw. Eng (Nov23-Apr 2024)

83rd anime I saw. Eng (dec-jan 2023)

S1 (Season 1) - 4/10 - Not very likeable characters (especially the MC), not the most exciting fighting system.
S1,5 Mugen Train - 5/10 - Need more time to get to know the characters + all the MC's are still too weak.
S2 Entertainment District - 8.0/10 - amazing animations, a lot of action, stronger MC's, but still not the most exciting MC, not as much build up for later seasons as JJK or MT:JR.
S3 Swordsmith Village - (7.5/10) - The characters and humour has grown on me and the animations still kick ass.

Overall rating: 8.0 / 10 - Highly recommended

Season 1 was kind of meh. For me these are definitely characters that has to grow on you before they become bearable (or even decent/good).

Like most shonens - Season 2 is better than season 1. The characters have become stronger and they fight stronger enemies. Always boring the first season of shonens when all the main characters are complete garbage...
Bonus points for animations (but then again, this could also be said for JK and MTiihd (jobless reincarnation)

69th anime I saw, Jap (watched summer 2020. rewatched Q2 2022)

Overall rating: 8/10 - Highly recommended
I always give a few bonus points to a series that is completed.

80th anime I saw (June-aug 2023).

Great animations

Overall rating: 7.8 / 10 - Highly recommended

63rd anime I saw, Jap. (rewatched feb 2023 with samuel)

Psycho-Pass - the second series I saw under my "4 series in 2 days"

Starts off a bit too slow. Takes half the series for things to really get going, so this lowers the rating somewhat.

The Characters are interesting and not as stereotypical as 99% of the characters usually are in animes nowadays. The animations are simply beautiful, the story is engaging and doesnt fall of interest for a second (though it doesnt really start before episode 12ish), and yaaay there will be a season 2! =)

Overall rating: 7.6 / 10 - Highly recommended

Genre: Thriller, Cyberpunk
Episodes: 22

34th anime I saw. Jap (Watched twice. re-watched 2018/2019ish)

Season 1 - 7.9 | Season 2 - 5.5

Season 1 - A very good vibe. A chill series with good characters and an interesting story.

Season 2 - less focus on main characters, too little exploring, grinding and looting, very creepy. (watched july 23)

Overall rating: 7.5 / 10 - Highly recommended

70th anime I saw, Jap

Season 1 - 7.1 | Season 2 - 7.3 | Season 3 - 7.5

Overall rating: 7.5 / 10

Episodes: 75 (Season 1: 25, Season 2: 25, Season 3: 25)

54th anime i saw (Q3 - Q4 2013), Jap

Note 24.07.2023 - Rewatched the last half of the series. Though the last episodes had some cool fights, the episodes before the last episodes were slow. Also wouldve been nice if the power-levels of all the characters were somewhat more equal so it wasn't so obvious who would end up dying first and last...

Great animations, cool characters, interesting concept.
Overall rating: 7.5 / 10 - Highly recommended

Episodes: 25

46th anime i saw, Jap (Watched twice. re-watched 2019ish)

A few years back i watched this series called Avatar: The Last Airbender and thought for myself "Whay an amazing show! Imagine how great this would be if they had an adult version of it. The story was very original and good, but it was meant for children, so that meant no deaths, no one gets hurt in fights and that takes away a little of the tension.
Now two years has gone and i stumble over this beautiful creation of a series called "Fullmetal Alchemist!"...

I actually saw the first 41 episodes in one day, something which beats my old record by almost three times. In other words, this show is very addicting. The fights, characters and the pure enjoyment rates this show up high, but sadly the story rips a star away from it again.

Genre: Adventure, Science fantasy
Episodes: 51

20th anime i saw, Eng

Note 23.05.23 - Need to rewatch - can't remember it that well

Genre: Drama, Historical
Episodes: 26

61st anime I saw, Jap

Started off great, but sadly failed to deliver towards the end. Still really enjoyed the series and would recommend though.


73rd anime i saw (Q3 2021)

Genre: Sports (Boxing)

Episodes: 76
+ A second series (2009) 26 episodes = 92
Sequel is planned

57th anime I saw, Jap

Witty dialogues, cool characters and a good balance between romance and marketing... stuff. The dub is very well done. Loved the dub!
The series didn't have a proper ending though, which is really sad considering how amazing this series could've been with one. I think the manga continued.
Also i really wanted Helena to meet with Holo :(

Rewatch notes 10 years later: Still good, but not as good as the first time i watched it. I like the chemistry between the main characters, but the story arcs feels a bit too slow at times.

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
Episodes: 24 (Season 1: 12, Season 2: 12 +1 OVA)

48th anime i saw, Eng (Rewatched sept, okt 2023)

Season 1: 2/10 | Season 2: 3/10 | Season 3: 6/10 | Season 4: 6,5/10

12.02.23 - Season 1 was complete garbage. Horrible animations, very little interesting characters, annoying MC, MC too talented and strong for his age and background (a little kid beating a veteran assassin with tons more strength, training and fighting experience). In his first battle ever he takes control over the tactical positioning for their entire army and leads them to victory... With no actual war experience... As a child... Bleh.
Bad tactics overall which seems like it was written by a 10-year old.

Season 2 - A lot of the same, but most things a little bit better than season 1. Generals got a buff in this season which they really did need... (like smashing big boulder probably weighing several tons, that's also rolling down a cliff in high speed with their glaive... bleh)

Season 3 - A lot better than season 1 and 2, but still overhyped. Animations are too bad for 1v1's too be cool. Too many moments where things just doesn't make any sense, and though tactics are a bit better, they still seem like they are written by a teenager with a bad imagination.

Season 4 - I liked this season as well as season 3.

76th anime i saw (Q1 2023)

Very chill. Beautiful animations!


74th anime i saw (Q3 2021)

I like the style and the characters, but something about the series feels missing. Also i prefer a connected story instead of individual stories per episode (and this is mostly the case for this series).

Genre: Crime Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Western, Action
Dub vs Sub - Recommended: Dub

Episodes: 26
17th anime I saw, Eng (rewatched march 2023)

I think this is one of those series i would benefit from re-watching, and some day i definitely will.

Update: I re-watched it, and i still feel i need to rewatch it...

Episodes: 25
32nd anime I saw, Eng (rewatched summer 2021)

Insanely random humour... I love it! If every episode was as good as the first one this would easily be in my top 20.

Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life.
Episodes: 12

49th, Jap

Trigun is an awesome western, action, comedy, drama anime about the legendary Vash the Stampede with the 60$$ billion on his head.
Vash the stampede is probably one of the most amazing characters I have seen. One moment he is the funny, unserious Vash that travels around the world teaching people about love and peace. This Vash also seem to trick everyone to think he is just a normal clumsy guy with no skill what so ever, but then the next second he takes on his glasses and becomes a badass, who could kill everyone and with the sickest gun skills on the planet, but still wouldn't hurt a fly.
Trigun is awesome, even though this isn't the average go around killing everyone with gallons of blood everywhere.

Trigun: Dub vs Sub - Recommended: Either

Episodes: 26
7th anime I saw, Eng

The OVAs kind off dragged the series down a few ranks.

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, (comedy)
Dub vs Sub - Recommended: Sub


Episodes: 62 (+ 30 OVA's)
27th anime i saw, Jap

A great Slice of life / drama that should be watched if you are a fan of the genre.

Genre: Drama, Romance, Slice of life
Episodes: 11

25th anime i saw, Jap

Starts of strong, but quickly falls down to 6 or 7 out of 10 each episode. I think there are 3-5 episodes that are probably an 8/10, but they're all within the first 7/8 episodes.


Episodes: 25

81st anime I saw, Jap (Nov 2023)

Clannad - The first season to one of the best animes ever. I am really glad they started slowly with this season before giving us After Story (season 2). A season that first attaches us to the characters before they present their stories properly. While in season 1 everyone there's four separate stories about the side characters, in season two they bring up the stories for the main characters. I feel season 1 is just a build up or preparation for what they planned to do all along.

Clannad Season 1:
The protagonist is a high-school student named Tomoya Okazaki. As a delinquent in his senior year, Okazaki hates his school and just sits around wasting time with his buddy Youhei Sunohara, who finds himself in the same situation.
Although Okazaki is the main character this is season is not merely as not much focused here as in After Story. This season is more about getting to know him and his friends. Clannad follows the story of 3 people; Fuko Ibuki, Kotomi Ichinose, Nagisa Furukawa (+ her parants, Akio and Sanae Furukawa).
Though this season isn't merely as good as the next one, After Story wouldn't have been what it was if it wasn't for this season.

Clannad: Dub or Sub - Recommended: Small edge to the sub
The dub is alright, not good or great by any means. I'd probably watch this in sub.

Episodes: 22(+3ovas)
2nd anime I saw. Eng

Slow start, but the second half is amazing.
The thing about Toradora was that, when i sat there watching the show i was really bored the first 15-16~ish episodes and was thinking about all the bad things i could write and how i was going to give at 6 out of 10 (dont know if these thoughts are normal when you watch a show.. lolz), but then, suddenly the second half appears, and it just shows that THIS is what the series was building up to.
The episodes get more serious, the characters more interesting and if the rest of the series had the same quality, this would have been given an 8 out of 10.

Genre: Comedy, Romance
Toradora: Dub vs Sub - Recommended: Sub

Episodes: 25
22nd series i saw. Jap

Episodes: 25

81st anime I saw, Jap (Sept 2023)

65th anime I saw, Jap

A good series, but there's too much dead time in each episode. If they cut down on all the time we see the main characters fighting thousands of marines without any powers, or cut the fights down to 1/5th of the time, this would probably easily be in my top 10. Sadly this takes up so much of the time that it kind of ruins a lot of the cool momentum. Usually fight start off really cool and then the hype dies more and more for each episode after...

Episodes: 1050+

68th anime I saw (Q2 2020 - 2022 - during covid), Jap

I found it a bit boring for most of the series, but then for the lest few episodes when they arrived at the the Grateful Sound concert it became really good.
The last episode was rushed as hell though. An ending build up to a second season would be way more satisfying.
The series is pretty down to earth, but there were a few too many love cliches i didn't like. Like when koyuki meets up to that party with a suit on, or when the condom accidentally falls out of his pocket. sigh
Great series though, Im not even that fond of that kind of music.

Genre: Music, Comedy-drama, Slice of Life, Romance
Episodes: 26

37th anime i saw, Eng

Season 1: 6/10
Season 2: 4/10

The premise of the series doesn't really work out too well for my taste. If the series was more about vikings fighting with tactics like Game of Thrones to rule some place, it would hit right in my alley. Instead the series tries to tell a story of "a true warrior should stay away from violence".

For the first season this isn't as much of a problem as we still get to see some fighting and cool characters. For the second season we get more into what they built up to though - which is basically no fighting.

If you are looking for a philosophical series going into the topic of "though shall not kill", this might be what you are looking for.

78th anime i saw (Q2 2023)

As i see new series i find it harder and harder to place it in it's rightful spot. Every series i have on this list are supposed to be great and so far they have. I found it quite easy to place the ten first series, but now i am getting more and more uncertain every time i am going to rate one.

Chill or boring? That's the question every man (watching this) needs to answer...

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Episodes: 13

13th anime i saw, Jap

I like the animations, and the story and dialogue isn't bad. I just found the series to be reeeaally boring. I don't like mecha either at all, so didn't really help. The little girl is also super annoying. I also hate the little girl's hair...

Pretty mediocre animations, story, characters, dialogues. The series tries to keep a serious tone, so it doesn't have too much humor in it, which isn't a problem in it self, but it's harder to pull off (Series like berserk, AoT and Monster are examples where it works well). I will give some bonus points for the soundtrack which is quite nice. I did watch everything in a relatively short amount of time, so it was somewhat enjoyable. Wouldn't watch it again though.

It must be mentioned - episode 12 contains one of my favorites scenes from any anime. So at least the series got something done right.


64th anime I saw, Jap
Watched the first 12 episodes in 2014, but stopped as i caught up to what was released at the time. Watched everything from start to finish may 2023.

great characters, soundtracks and especially action scenes, but only a mediocre storyline.

Episodes: 37 +4 OVAs, (Season 1: 25 +1 OVA, Season 2: 12 +3 OVAs)
Start by watching season 2 THEN see season 1 and then the OVA's

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Supernatural
Darker than BLACK: Dub vs Sub - Recommended: Either

26th anime I saw, Eng